8-story building to be built adjacent to existing school. Park East Day School proposed to construct an eight-story, 104 ft. tall building at 162 East 68th Street as a way to expand its existing school located immediately adjacent on East 68th Street. Park East had earlier demolished a three-story building on the site. The new building would include ten classrooms, science labs, computer and media centers, a large library and a caretaker’s apartment on the eighth floor.

Park East argued that, to achieve the most functional design, size and layout, it required eight stories and full lot coverage on the lower floors in order to mirror the configuration and line up with the floors of the existing school, which received a variance in 1973. The design exceeded limits on height, overall size and lot coverage. Park East stated that a code-compliant building would eliminate four new classrooms, the computer lab and the caretaker’s unit from the project and diminish its ability to operate effectively.

At the BSA hearings, opponents argued that Park East created the hardship by demolishing the original three-story building and questioned the need for the eighth-story caretaker’s apartment.

BSA granted the variance following a 410 sq.ft. reduction to the caretaker’s apartment, finding that the variance was the minimum size needed to meet Park East’s needs. BSA noted that the applicant had provided ample documentation showing that the caretaker’s unit was needed and an off-site apartment was cost-prohibitive.

BSA: 162-168 East 68th Street (128-04- BZ) (December 14, 2004) (Marvin B. Mitzner, Fischbein Badillo Wagner Harding, for Sam and Esther Minskoff Cultural Center, Park East Day School, Inc.). CITYADMIN